Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy

By Leslie McGuire, managing editor

Humboldt Park Lake c. 1906: Frederick Law Olmsted believed parks were places where city dwellers could enjoy scenery designed to ?EUR??,,????'??refresh and delight the eye, and through the eye, the mind and the spirit.?EUR??,,????'?? For a generation, this lake was a barren cracked concrete basin, however with new funding, the conservancy brought new spray pads and water recreation back to the basin.

Imagine acres of impeccably maintained open space in the heart of Buffalo filled with lush gardens, majestic trees, children frolicking in fountains of water, picnickers celebrating family reunions and neighborhood residents employed as zone gardeners.

Imagine as you exit the back steps of Albright Knox Art Gallery, viewing snow-shoers traversing the park, Hoyt Lake filled with boaters, opera being staged between Shakespeare?EUR??,,????'???s successful run, horse-drawn carriage rides and artists painting the landscape. Imagine marathon runners in training and students from nearby schools engaged in outdoor art, history and science classes. Imagine adults taking yoga lessons, budding novelists writing on their favorite park bench, soccer, rugby and baseball teams in action, and neighborhoods fixing up their properties to match the park?EUR??,,????'???s beauty. The restoration of Buffalo?EUR??,,????'???s beautiful and historic Olmsted Park System can provide all of that and more to each neighborhood in the City. The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy is ready to lead the charge for an improved quality of life in Western New York?EUR??,,????'??+with the help of the Zone Management System.

 

Delaware Park: Zone Gardeners are responsible for everything within their zones from trash pick-up, to plantings, to volunteer utilization. The Zone Gardeners are assisted by crews with specific technical expertise. The Tree Care supervisor is responsible for large tree trimming and pest control. The Turf Care supervisor is responsible for aeration and fertilization.

In Partnership with the Central Park Conservancy

The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy has established a partnership with the premier parks organization in the country, the Central Park Conservancy, to accomplish what they successfully achieved in New York City with the Zone System. The partnership was forged in 2001 and their recommendations are now being implemented. Using their successful model, along with their guidance, the conservancy is creating a 20-Year Management and Restoration Plan for the Buffalo Olmsted Park System. Key to the model is the institution of endowed zone gardener positions to ensure consistency of care and responsibility for 10 - 50 acre sections of the system. Since activation of this system, the level of maintenance has risen and many citizens and businesses have made the effort to compliment the Conservancy.

Why the Zone Management System Works

One of the most significant contributions to park management that the Central Park Conservancy has made is the Zone Management System. Zone Management is now in place in Buffalo. The system breaks down the parks into multiple zones, each of which is assigned a separate zone gardener. They are responsible for everything within their zones from trash pick-up to plantings to volunteer utilization. The zone gardeners report to a supervisor and are assisted by various crews with specific technical expertise. The Zone Management System brings accountability and pride of ownership to parks management and has literally transformed Central Park from a crime-ridden landscape to the third largest tourist attraction in New York City with 25 million visitors a year. In Buffalo, for the first time in its history, the Conservancy will be able to guarantee donors that their investment in the parks will be maintained. Through this system, the Central Park Conservancy successfully raised $150 million over 15 years. Following their model, the Buffalo Olmsted Park System will have similar success by: Building the plan from the grassroots level, neighborhood by neighborhood; Leveraging public and private investment; Strategically planning phases of capital projects over 20 years; Implementing the zone management system to well utilize the capital investments, and; Broadening the scope of fundraising to a national level that matches the national significance of the system.

The six major parks and six smaller parks are divided into zones. Each zone is 12 to 15 acres, which is the amount one Zone Gardener can handle alone. There are a total of 40 zones in the system and 40 full-time employees who report to the Director of Park Management and Operations.

How the Zone Management System Works

Zone Management is a strategy-based initiative designed to enhance, maintain and protect the investments in the Olmsted Park and Parkway system, to empower the community, to promote park stewardship and to establish partnerships with public and private organizations.

The Zone Gardeners will also act as ?EUR??,,????'??park ambassadors?EUR??,,????'?? to welcome visitors to the parks, to educate the public about park history and usage policies and to provide an extra set of eyes and ears during peak usage hours. The goal of this program is to engage the community in employment training opportunities in gardening, horticulture and park management to ensure that higher maintenance standards in the Olmsted Park and Parkway system are met. The Zone Management Program creates more employment opportunities and these employees will be trained to establish careers in the park profession, not transitional jobs.

What will the Zone Management System do to help the city, the parks and the people?

It will create jobs, a clean, green, safe and welcoming parks environment; plus partnerships between the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, it?EUR??,,????'???s neighbors, the community and the city mean the Conservancy will meet their mission to enhance the quality of life in an around Western New York.

Although people from all over Western New York enjoy the rich legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted, over the years, changing park usage, lack of funding for adequate maintenance, and the demands of urban development resulted in the loss of parkland and threatened the future of the parks and the historic Olmsted design. To best meet the needs of today while working to protect, preserve, and provide for the restoration of Buffalo?EUR??,,????'???s important parks legacy, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy continues its work to safeguard Olmsted?EUR??,,????'???s design genius for future generations.

The conservancy sends out a volunteer recruitment mailing and then coordinates the responders with the area of the park they prefer. The Zone Gardener meets with them and gives them equipment, supplies and provides training. Most volunteers assist with trash collection, maintaining plantings and pruning as well as major repairs. Chemicals are used on a very limited basis, although to protect their elms, they do use fungicide.

Small Things make a Big Difference

According to Tim Fulton, Director of Park Management and Operations, one of the great things about Zone Management is that it is a very successful way to manage the staff. Rather than having a crew go out, as funding permits, they assign up to 10 acres to each Zone Gardener, and that person has full responsibility for their area. Most of the Zone Gardeners have volunteers assisting them.

In addition, there are two specialty crews, The Turf care supervisor is responsible for aeration and fertilization while the Tree care supervisor is responsible for large tree trimming and pest control. ?EUR??,,????'??We have a very educated public and use chemicals on a very limited basis,?EUR??,,????'?? says Fulton. ?EUR??,,????'??In Buffalo there was a movement to cut the amount of chemicals, and there are many natural areas where we don?EUR??,,????'???t use any. However, we have to protect our American Elms with fungicide.?EUR??,,????'??

Pride of Place

The Zone Gardeners are very proud of their areas and go out of their way to make sure they look great. ?EUR??,,????'??We pick people who have specific interests,?EUR??,,????'?? says Fulton. ?EUR??,,????'??It works better, rather than randomly assign areas, to give people a place that falls in line with their specific interests such as forestry or ball fields or flowers.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??People get to know their Zone Gardeners by name,?EUR??,,????'?? says Fulton. ?EUR??,,????'??They can go directly to the Zone Gardener when they have problems rather than calling the Mayor?EUR??,,????'???s office. The winning Zone Gardeners get paid time off.?EUR??,,????'??

The Conservancy purchases much of their own equipment in partnership with the County of Erie and the City of Buffalo. They did fund raising to get new Toros and Jacobsens. For use on the wide turf areas, they have mowers with 14-foot cutting decks, and for wooded areas, they use walk behinds. They also have Wright mowers that can be stood on as well as a number of zero turn mowers. The old mowers belonging to the county were very large and difficult to operate.

South Park was originally designed in 1894 as an arboretum with more than 2,300 types of trees, shrubs and plants.

But Best of All?EUR??,,????'???

Because Buffalo has a shrinking population (There were 600,000 residents in the 70s, and now there are 300,000) the city has had to consolidate services. The three way partnership between the County, the City and the Conservancy?EUR??,,????'???s fund raising capabilities makes it possible to afford to do this conservation and restoration which would otherwise be impossible for a poor city to handle.

So the city and its inhabitants will have what Olmsted originally planned for them?EUR??,,????'??+?EUR??,,????'??a place where city dwellers can enjoy scenery designed to refresh and delight the eye and through the eye, the mind and the spirit.?EUR??,,????'?? But not only that, they will have a strong dependable core of young people who are dedicated to keeping their city a healthy and stable place to live. Not bad!